Minnesota Twins’ Carlos Quentin Making a Push
Minnesota Twins’ spring training invitee, Carlos Quentin is turning heads
Nobody was really sure what Carlos Quentin was going to bring to the table when the Minnesota Twins signed him to a minor league with a spring training invite six weeks ago. However, now, just past the half way point of spring training, Quentin has worked himself into serious consideration for a bench role on the opening day roster.
As we noted in our profile of Quentin when the signing was announced, he last played for the Padres in 2014. “His last major league action in 2014 was a disaster. Quentin’s knee issues worsened. He managed just a .599 OPS. Quentin has never been a good outfielder which accentuated his struggles that year.”
He didn’t play a game in the majors in 2015 and announced his retirement. After a year of retirement, the rest had done enough healing for his various ailments that he decided to return to baseball.
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He reached an agreement with the Twins and has a typical comeback-type deal with opt-outs built in. He’s set to make $700,000 if he’s playing in the majors.
Our assessment at the time was, “If Quentin is healthy, he could be a useful offensive threat off the bench. On the other hand, he might never play a game in Twins uniform. It costs the Twins very little to find out.”
Thus far this spring, he’s been healthy and has been an offensive threat. In 27 plate appearances he’s hit 2 home runs, 2 doubles, 4 singles, 3 walks, 7 RBI, 5 runs, and has struck out 3 times. That works out to an 1.172 OPS in Grapefruit league action. The quality of the opposing pitchers he’s faced should be noted: 8.2 OppQual (1 being a Rookie Baller and 10 being a major leaguer).
The amount plate appearances Carlos has been getting would suggest that the club is intrigued by the possibility of his presence on the 25 man. Quentin case for a bench role has been strengthen by Danny Santana and Oswaldo Arcia‘s struggles at the plate this spring. Quentin will have supplant one of those two in order to land on the opening day roster.
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Quentin hasn’t won the role and the option statuses of Arcia and Santana will weigh heavily in the decision but Quentin has made a statement. This is another spring training battle that will likely go right down to the wire. Many labelled this signing as “dumpster diving” and criticized the team for adding a hobbled, washed up veteran to the mix. He’s already proved his doubters wrong, it just remains to be seen how wrong.